Keystone pipeline’s impact on global warming should be reviewed: EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has urged the State Department to “revisit” how much the Keystone XL oil pipeline would contribute to global warming, saying oilsands crude produces 17 per cent more emissions than “average” crude oil.

In a supplemental environmental impact statement released Tuesday, the EPA suggests that the falling price of oil, now at about $52 US a barrel, should change the assessment of Keystone’s environmental impact.

“The EPA has just reconfirmed what has been clear all along: the Keystone XL [oilsands] pipeline fails the president’s climate test,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.